Dressed to Kill, Dressed to Till
Lot 3:
Acquired at the 2018 sale of Plumer-Humphreys-Barton family estate, Newbury, Massachusetts, this young boy’s suit consists of a double-breasted round jacket and a pair of trousers or pantaloons, commonly referred to as a “skeleton suit”. With such suits, the trousers were pulled over the lower part of the jacket, the jacket buttoning into buttonholes set on the wide waistband to secure the two garments. The cut of this suit suggests that it was made and worn, c.1785-1800. Both garments are made of block-printed, cotton calico of a pattern popular in the 1770s, likely repurposed by the child’s mother from one of her old dresses. The boy had an approximate breast and waist measure of 22 inches, with a sleeve length of 18 and a back of 10 ½ inches; trouser inseam is 16 inches. No buttons remained on the garments when found; two lines of leather cord button stays on the breast interior with the remains of wire loops suggest that the original buttons were likely metal, but the decision was made to instead place reproduction self-covered buttons of brown cotton over molds; these light but historically-correct alternatives were placed on the garments in a non-destructive manner (which would not have been possible with metal buttons without disturbing the originals stays or stressing the fabric). A one inch-long rent in the left front leg panel was also mended; this conservation work was skillfully done by Dr. Karin Bohleke, Ph.D. The suit was probably worn by a boy of 3-4 years, but was photographed on the undersized clothing form for a 2-year-old. Provenance: 2018 estate sale at the Plumer House (c. 1700) on the Lower Green, home of the Plumer-Humphreys-Barton family that first settled Newbury, Massachusetts in the early 1600s.
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